Top 10 Questions I’ve Always Wanted to Ask Yao’s Interpreter

I found it at a BBS. http://www.hoopchina.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=25586
If anyone sees the original source, please give a link.

Apologize if it has been posted.


Top 10 Questions I’ve Always Wanted to Ask Yao’s Interpreter



10. Favorite current NBA player (non-Rocket) and why?

Colin: I would have to say Juan Dixon. I’m a huge Maryland fan and he and Yao have the same agent, so I’ve met him briefly. He’s a really nice guy and I appreciate the fact that he’s had to overcome a lot in his life to get where he is.
In terms of playing ability, I like Steve Nash a lot. He’s a really great guy. He and Yao also have the same agent, but he’s very fun to watch play…and he’s a short, white Canadian guy, so that’s cool.

9. Now that Yao is doing more of his own interviews and meetings with the press, what exactly do you do?

Colin: What are you talking about? This is news to me! No, seriously, I think now it’s more just to make sure he’s comfortable. There’s still times that he doesn’t understand something. For the most part he’s fine, but from time to time he’ll need some help. There are also those times when he still wants to express himself very precisely and although he’s good at doing that in English, there’s a precision in your first language, so he’ll express that to me in Chinese to get his point across more clearly.

8. Your favorite NBA city/arena to visit on a road trip?

Colin: New York. No doubt, hands down. My favorite arena is Conseco [Fieldhouse in Indianapolis], but overall, everything considered, I’m East Coast, I love the East Coast, I have a lot of friends there and New York is my favorite city. Madison Square Garden is an amazing place; there’s a great aura there.

7. If you could meet one person (living or dead) who would it be and why?

Colin: If I could meet anybody it would probably be Haruki Murakami, who’s my favorite author. He’s probably one of the most famous Japanese authors and most of his stuff has been translated into English. I was a literature major in college and I love to read and his stuff to me is very moving. I have a lot of respect for his writing ability and I would really like to sit down and talk to him about his life and delve into his thoughts to understand some of his characters more.

6. Favorite “behind the scenes” Yao moment?

Colin: I’d have to say that my favorite moment is when we were in L.A. Yao’s first year to film the Apple commercial [the commercial with Yao and the guy that played “Mini-Me” sitting next to each other in the airplane]. We’d had a late night New Year’s Eve game and flew out right afterwards, so we didn’t get into L.A. until 3:00 AM and we had to be at the set by 8:00 AM. So when the limo came to pick us up in the morning I was groggy as [very warm place where Satan lives].

Yao has to take his vitamins, so he asks me to pour him some water. Well, there’s this decanter there full of a clear liquid that I thought was water, so I poured him a full glass and handed it to him. He takes the vitamins and a full swallow of it and yells, “BLAAHHHHH! This isn’t water!” After taking the decanter back out and sniffing it, I discovered it was gin and I was forced (by Yao and his agent) to take a shot of it as well.

5. OK, let’s be honest, who’s better at Warcraft?

Colin: [Laughs] I’m not that good, Yao is much, much better.

DB Guy: Do you play Halo?

Colin: We don’t play a lot of Halo, but he plays a lot of Counterstrike…I can’t beat him at Counterstrike, but I’m better than he is at Street Fighter. He might debate you on that, but I’m a lot better.

4. What’s been your biggest “star struck” moment?

Colin: Ernie Banks. He’s a really nice man, and a total sports legend. I loved baseball when I was growing up. I’m much more of a basketball fan now, but growing up in Baltimore, we didn’t have any other sports except the Orioles, so they’ll always be my favorite team in any sport. So to meet Ernie Banks was very cool…same kind of thing with Yogi Berra [shooting the Visa commercial].

3. As you know, Yao’s family is opening up a new restaurant here in town soon, so be honest - how is Yao’s mom’s cooking?

Colin: Yao’s mom’s cooking is awesome! I lived with Yao and his parents their first year here in Houston, so I ate her cooking all the time and she’s a great cook. Although I don’t think she’s actually going to be the chef at the restaurant, though, Database Guy.

DB Guy: Yeah, I figured that one out on my own, CP.

2. Does Yao bump his head a lot?

Colin: Not as much as you might think, although he does bump his head from time to time. I remember one time at the Ritz-Carlton, he was walking along and just railed his head on a low hanging lamp…it was, well, it was ugly.

1. Finally, for all the single female Colin Pine fans out there, are there any Mrs. Pine’s currently in the works?

Colin: Tell the ladies that I’m currently single and free to mingle.